We had just returned from Queensland with Phil’s 9’0” Merrin and Peter’s 9’3”, while I still had my 9’6” Pyke “Razor” board. During our stay in Coolangatta, Graeme Merrin had loaned us his latest model: a 7’10” V-bottom with a full half-moon tail highlighted with colored resin tips. This could possibly have been the first swallowtail made in Australia. It resembled a big mouth with two eyes, and he naturally called it the “Growler.” Phil could ride the board reasonably well, while Peter and I struggled with its lack of stability compared to our much larger 9’6”s. We decided to be conservative, and we paid the price.

Back home in Vic, we took a trip to Phillip Island which highlighted the mistake we had made with the new customs we bought. Rod Brooks and a handful of Victoria’s other top surfers were riding the new 8-footers at Flynns Reef in an ASA competition. We arrived back home pretty dejected. I found a saw in the garage and proceeded to hack 10” off the tail of the magnificent Pyke. Luckily, we didn’t touch the Merrins.

The shortboard revolution had kicked in, and we’d just spent all our hard-earned cash on surfboards that were now obsolete. The only alternative was to try and make our own. Phil’s brand-new Ocka from Queensland was discarded within two months (early March 1968) when we launched a still-sticky 8′ Trigger Bros at the Hump in Pt. Leo. Soon, our passion for surfing, the obsession to improve, and making surfboards would all roll into one.

The simplicity of living in the sixties can be illustrated by an eventful trip to pick up my new custom Pyke in 1967 (pictured below). Aged 15, Phil worked all summer holidays with the drainers at Leighton Contractors, not really knowing the dangers at the time. By 16, he had enough money to buy his first car, which was a second-hand FJ Holden. We fitted it out with Jaguar bucket seats and a floor shift, and sprayed it maroon.

February 1968. Phil and I in our driveway with our new boards.

There’s more in this photo than meets the eye. With our older brother Peter being the only licensed driver, we sped off down the highway to Fred’s factory on Boston Road in Torquay. But disaster struck about 7 km from Torquay when the motor blew up. In our excitement to depart, we had forgotten to check the oil in the engine. It was 8:00 pm on a Friday night by the time Dad managed to find us for the long tow home. Unlike today's high-tech machines, Phil and I were able to drop another motor into the FJ on Saturday. This time, with plenty of oil and petrol, we collected my new 9’6” “Razor” on the Sunday.

About five years ago at the Aussie Mal titles, Phil was able to make an amazing connection with the past when he met Jeff Arnold, the shaper of the Merrin, for the first time. When we purchased the customs, we were under the impression that Graeme Merrin was the sole shaper, but Jeff was not only the shaper but also our favorite Queensland surfer. He was the guy who had mesmerized us when he rode the Union Jack Mal at Greenmount some 45 years earlier.

Jeff had been searching for many years, trying to locate a Jeff Arnold model, a hanger, and a link to his youth. A couple of years back, he received a call from a mate in Byron Bay telling him of a Merrin in the back of a ute. "Stay put, I’m driving down immediately with a wad of cash." The deal was done, and better still, it was a custom built for some guy from somewhere called Peter Trigger.

Triggs